Scottish graduates being forced to take 'survival jobs'

Jobcentres are advising Scottish university graduates to forget about finding
skilled work during the recession and focus instead on securing “survival
jobs” like cleaning, according to a survey published today.

The Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) report suggested that some graduates are being told to “dumb down” by omitting their degrees altogether from their CVs because they deter employers trying to fill menial positions.

It concluded that many feel “high levels of frustration and disillusionment” that their degrees have been wasted because they cannot secure employment in their chosen field.

According to an accompanying survey of 1,000 graduates, only one per cent said Jobcentres helped them find suitably skilled work and around a quarter said they were unemployed a year after leaving university.

Three-fifths felt they were poorly advised about their career while still at school and more than two-fifths (43 per cent) said their university failed to prepare them for work.

Scotland’s universities dismissed the survey as “completely unrepresentative” and cited official figures showing two-thirds of graduates had a professional or managerial post within six months of leaving higher education.

But the Margaret Lynch, CAS chief executive, said the report disclosed the “stark detail the extent of the crisis that many graduates are facing.”

“Having been told a degree was the key to a successful and prosperous life, and having worked hard and sacrificed a lot to get one, many have become entrenched instead in a culture of unemployment or low wages and short-term contracts,” she said.

“It's heart-rending to read so many accounts of people, once full of hope for the future, who feel their lives are on hold. Some are even questioning whether it was worth the time, money and effort they put into getting their degrees.”

The survey, titled Degrees of Insecurity, discovered around one in ten graduates is still out of work 18 months after leaving university.

One 25-year-old law graduate told the report’s authors: “At the (JobCentre) group meetings we were encouraged to leave any degree off the CV to help us find more plentiful unskilled work.

“Nobody would employ me as a cleaner if I had a degree. I was told to stop looking for graduate work and take a 'survival' job.”

An art history graduate said his degree was considered a “deterrent” to employers, while another with a PhD in art said he was stacking shelves.

A 22-year-old politics graduate said the Jobcentre focused on finding him work in the retail sector because he had worked part-time in shop while studying for his degree.

The report also found that home ownership among younger people has fallen steeply, with around a fifth owning a home compared to at least a third 15 years ago.

CAS predicted this proportion will fall to 12 per cent by 2020. There has been an accompanying increase in youngsters renting from private landlords.

But Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said: “The survey, and all media coverage to promote it, was deliberately and unashamedly targeted at graduates who have struggled to find work.

“Therefore, it is completely unrepresentative of the graduate population as a whole and paints a far more negative picture than is actually the case.”

He cited official figures showing only seven per cent of graduates are unemployed six months after graduation and their average starting salary is £21,000 per year.

Angela Constance, the SNP’s Youth Employment Minister, last night said Scotland has the highest rate of graduate employment in the UK and ministers are pursuing a range of initiatives to help them.

A DWP spokesman said Jobcentre Plus can graduates help with skills, training and work experience, as well as “tailored support” to find employment.